REAL
NAME: Fiona Apple (Maggart)BIRTHDAY: September 13,
1977BIGGEST
SINGLE: "Criminal" (1997)BIGGEST
LP: Tidal (1996)GRAMMY
AWARDS: 1 "I'm
such an incredibly, stupidly
sensitive person that everything that
happens to me, I experience it really
intensely. I feel everything very
deeply. And when you feel things
deeply and you think about things a
lot and you think about how you feel,
you learn a lot about yourself. And
when you know yourself, you know life" - Fiona
Apple, 1996

TIMELINE

Fiona Apple (Maggart) was born
September 13, 1977 in New York. By the time
Fiona turned 20, she had a critical and
commercially successful debut LP, and had
been portrayed as everything from a
victimized and tormented singer to a
ungrateful, aloof musical artist. Although
Fiona's willingness to speak her mind in
public or through her music has turned heads
away, she has allowed it to maintain her
credibility. With parents in the
entertainment field (her mom is a singer, and
her father is an actor), Fiona started
playing the piano when she was 8 years old
and writing songs in her early teens. Her
teen years also included an incident when
Fiona was raped. Fiona was also in therapy by
age 10 for behavior that was considered
antisocial: "Basically, I was young and
I wasn't running around with a yo-yo and a
jump rope all the time, so people thought
there was something wrong with me. I refused
to go to school for weeks straight 'cause
everyone was calling me "dog of the
school," crazy, weird, stupid. When I
switched to an alternative school, my
principal thought that I was emotionally
disturbed. Which I am." (Spin
magazine) When Fiona was 16, she decided to
move to Los Angeles where her father lived
and ended up finishing her entire senior year
of high school in 2 months with home study.
She also made a demo consisting of 3 of her
songs and 78 copies of the demo for
distribution. But when Fiona returned home to
New York for the holidays, 1 tape made it to
the right person, Andy Slater. Slater is now
Fiona's manager and producer, and Fiona is
left with 77 demo tapes no longer needing
distribution.

Fiona signed with Sony Music
after she headed out to Los Angeles at the
age of 16 to pursue her music and then
returning to New York.

Fiona's debut LP, Tidal, was a success with
critics who compared her with Liz
Phair, Alanis
Morissette, P.J. Harvey, Tori Amos, and other notable
female singers with angst in their lyrics and
pain in their vocals. With the track "Shadow Boxer" getting play on
radio and video channels, Fiona's music
became more widespread.

Fiona's touring and other sultry
live appearances made her an even bigger
musical force as she participated in the
successful Lilith Fair tour, toured with The
Wallflowers, and had her first Top 10 pop
hit with "Criminal."

Fiona won a MTV Video Music
Awardfor Best New Artist ("Sleep To
Dream"). Fiona was most remembered for
her acceptance speech: " "This
world is bulls---, and you shouldn't model
your life about what you think that you think
we think is cool, and what we're wearing, and
what we're saying and everything. Go with
yourself." The speech and intensity of
her appearance had Fiona explaining her
thoughts throughout the end of the year. In a Rolling
Stone magazine interview at the end
of the year, Fiona reflected on her MTV
speech:"I just had something on my mind
and I just said it... and that's really the
foreshadowing of my entire career and my
entire life. When I have something to say,
I'll say it." Fiona hit the Top 40 with "Criminal."

In Spin magazine, Fiona
stated: "It's psychologically and
chemically impossible for me to be happy, I
know I'm going to die young." Fiona helped out People For The
Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) for the
impending, annual Thanksgiving turkey feast.
A recorded message on PETA's phone line had
Apple stating her opposition to the
slaughtering of turkeys for Thanksgiving. The
message also singled out Butterball with a
request to call the company and complain
about their phone message which gives ideas
on cooking their turkeys. As Apple stated on
the message, "...millions of people are
learning that a vegetarian diet is the
healthy choice for themselves, the earth, and
the animals."

Fiona finished the year on the
cover of Rolling
Stone magazine when she was named
Artist of the Year. Fiona also won a
Billboard Music Video Award for Best New
Artist Clip (Pop/Rock). Fiona hit the Top
10
with "Criminal." Readers of Rolling
Stone named "Criminal" Best Single of
the Year and Fiona the Best Female Performer
of the Year.

Fiona performed on ReAct
Now: Music & Relief - a benefit
program shown on music video channels to
raise money for those affected by Hurricane
Katrina.

As Fiona's
third LP sat on the shelves of Sony Records
since 2002, various "Free Fiona"
protests developed on the streets in front of
Sony Record's New York office and on the
Internet. The revised LP, Extraordinary
Machine, was finally released on
October 4th.

Note: Song title and
position links lead you to the song's Top
40 chart run (from the ARC Weekly Top
40)
and LP links take you to Amazon.com for that LP (often
including track listings and sound
samples).